Detained: A boy's journal of survival and resilience
A 2025 Latino Book Award Winner, Bronze Medal for Best Autobiography — English
“A shocking and moving read. A brutally honest account of the impact of family separation at the US border.”—Kirkus Reviews
The first-ever memoir of a child’s experience in detention on the US/Mexico border under President Trump’s infamous family separation policy.
D Esperanza was just thirteen years old when he lost his caregivers, his beloved grandmother and uncle. Since both of his parents were working and living in the United States, D was left on his own in a small town in Honduras. He quickly realized he simply could not make enough money to survive so he made the difficult decision to head north with his cousins and hopefully reunite with his parents in el norte.
Together, the boys struggled to survive a long and treacherous journey through Central America and Mexico. Along the way, D and his cousins formed a deep bond, only for the four to be brutally separated at the border of the United States. When he is captured and processed at a facility, neither D nor his family are given an update on when he will be released or where he’ll go next. Over the next five months, he kept a journal of his experience. The pages tell a story of pain, cruelty, friendship, and resilience, a living testament to the reality of the border. Amidst the senseless inhumanity and violence of US immigration policy, D found hope in the friendship he and his fellow companions forged, and mentorship from one intrepid advocate who fought on his behalf named Gerardo Iván Morales.
Timely, powerful, and unforgettable, Detained brings the border crisis to vivid life.
“A shocking and moving read. A brutally honest account of the impact of family separation at the US border.”—Kirkus Reviews
The first-ever memoir of a child’s experience in detention on the US/Mexico border under President Trump’s infamous family separation policy.
D Esperanza was just thirteen years old when he lost his caregivers, his beloved grandmother and uncle. Since both of his parents were working and living in the United States, D was left on his own in a small town in Honduras. He quickly realized he simply could not make enough money to survive so he made the difficult decision to head north with his cousins and hopefully reunite with his parents in el norte.
Together, the boys struggled to survive a long and treacherous journey through Central America and Mexico. Along the way, D and his cousins formed a deep bond, only for the four to be brutally separated at the border of the United States. When he is captured and processed at a facility, neither D nor his family are given an update on when he will be released or where he’ll go next. Over the next five months, he kept a journal of his experience. The pages tell a story of pain, cruelty, friendship, and resilience, a living testament to the reality of the border. Amidst the senseless inhumanity and violence of US immigration policy, D found hope in the friendship he and his fellow companions forged, and mentorship from one intrepid advocate who fought on his behalf named Gerardo Iván Morales.
Timely, powerful, and unforgettable, Detained brings the border crisis to vivid life.
BUY THE BOOK
Join a book club that is reading Detained: A boy's journal of survival and resilience!
Community Reviews
In 2018 when children were separated from their families at the border, nearly 1,500 of those kids went missing. We now know what happened since one of them kept a diary.
This book needs to be read. Kids did not go missing, kids were purposely kept hidden to deter future immigrants from attempting to cross the border. They knew who his parents were, they knew what state they lived in, and immigration officials refused to release the children or confirm their locations to families or local officials.
These kids were moved from camp to camp as a form of torture. They were forced to hide indoors if camera drones were ever spotted nearby. They weren't even called by their names, but known by their bunk numbers at each camp.
D. Esperanza is not the real author but an alias, since the real author is still currently undergoing the legal process to gain documents since 2018...
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.